‘Outsider’ who came up trumps

THE EDITOR: Four years ago I predicted a Donald Trump victory, not out of any whim or wishful thinking, but out of a sense from the media, et al, of the political psychology which he seemed to adopt in appealing to the electorate as an outsider upsetting the American establishment – ironically so as he has often claimed not being a politician – with which many were becoming increasingly disenchanted.

Also, his attacks on big pharmaceutical companies like Astra-Zeneca and J&J as sucking the people dry with their high prices and huge profits, big biotechnology corporations like Monsanto squeezing traditional farmers to death by attempting to control agriculture, and the “deep state” driving the country to perennial foreign wars to market their huge military arsenal, inter alia.

And Trump seemed to reinforce this psychology of the underdog with a subtle national appeal embodied in the slogan “Make America great again,” keeping illegal immigrants out with a huge wall, representing them as a threat to the American worker with their penchant for accepting low wages and using up resources which would have otherwise been theirs.

There were also the consolidating effect of winning over Christians with his anti-abortion stance and the promise of more jobs through the revival of the auto industry – capping the influence of China in the process – and the support to fracking and the coal, oil and gas industries.

He may not have been in accord with world climate protocols, but he created the perception of making that sacrifice for the American worker, so much so that even the American woman, especially from the suburbs, initially represented as victims of Trump as sexual predator, would join the new American hero in making America great again.

Of course he would make many enemies, giving rise to the unforgiving Trump haters, the Democrats and Hillary Clinton, the “deep state,” and even some of his “own” Republicans who saw him as an outsider to the Republican Party and not “presidential” enough. Included among these was the mainstream media like MSNBC and CNN that couldn’t come to terms with this intruder and shamelessly opposed him at every turn.

But the nationalism he sought to instil among the average American worked like a charm. And to conclude, to quote soldiers bringing news of victory on the battlefield to Macbeth in that Shakespearean play, the “victory fell on Trump.”

And he would keep his promise, the American economy reaching unprecedented heights in the first half of his presidency, but then covid19 would come. It came as an unseen enemy, ravaging the world over and the US was no exception. But as a true leader he strove to keep America alive by trying to balance covid19 protocols with the opening of the economy, his greatest achievement being able to survive covid19 himself. What a poignant message to the people of what they can accomplish for themselves.

For me, the latter was a tremendous political strategy for a non-politician if it were intended to be such, and if not, equally so in its effect. Maybe they will see it as such, and in these difficult times possibly remember the real-life things he did for them, like jobs and better pay packages with reduced taxation, better healthcare and the right to life for the unborn, law and order through support for the police, instilling within them the pride of being Americans and putting America first.

But many have lost loved ones through covid19 and his enemies continue to politicise covid19, blaming it all on Trump. Not forgetting, of course, the anti-Trump stance of Black Lives Matter and Antifa. The latter are powerful forces of dissuasion and one cannot with any surety say what path the people will take.

But on November 3 the wait will be over.

DR ERROL N BENJAMIN

via e-mail